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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26759752">It's Personal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagining_in_the_Margins/pseuds/Imagining_in_the_Margins'>Imagining_in_the_Margins</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Spencer Reid, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Funny, M/M, Secret Relationship, Self-Insert, meeting the team</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:22:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26759752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagining_in_the_Margins/pseuds/Imagining_in_the_Margins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(Gender Neutral) Reader reminds Spencer’s team that it’s never appropriate to ask someone for their age, even if they’re dating their coworker.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spencer Reid/Reader, Spencer Reid/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It's Personal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
<p></p><div class=""><p>You know those days where you just sit there and think: this might as well happen? It was one of those days.</p></div><div class=""><p>My boyfriend had agreed to take me out on the first date in what had been a very long time. Considering the details of the prolonged interval included a kidnapping, a prison sentence, and a shank, I won’t go into them. All that mattered was that my boyfriend was coming to pick me up for our first date in what felt like a century when a pair of vaguely familiar faces waltzed into my work ten minutes after my shift ended.</p></div><div class=""><p>Spencer had just barely missed the window of opportunity to save me from the hell of being questioned by the BAU.</p></div></div><div class="">
  <p>“Do you remember anything about when you left Monday night?” Emily asked. Her voice was just as smooth and serious as I’d expected. She fit her job so well that I would have never guessed she'd stumbled into it the way she did if I didn’t know. But of course, I did know. Spencer had told me.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not really. It was just like every other day. My boyfriend came to pick me up.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“He always picks you up after your shifts?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I narrowed my eyes and puffed my cheeks, trying to figure out how the hell to explain this without using his name or explaining his job back to her. She would figure it out. They were profilers, after all. They should have been able to figure it out if I talked for long enough.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not exactly. He’s usually pretty busy with work, but if he’s around, then, yeah,” I vaguely explained. But any chance of my keeping up that charade was destroyed in the blink of an eye with one simple question.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do you think we could talk to him?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>With an awkward smile and a glance at the clock, I sighed.  “Yeah, I guess. He should be here soon considering my shift ended like ten minutes ago.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>
    <em>Sorry, Spencer. I tried.</em>
  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I wanted to warn him. I was going to warn him. But in the time it took me to pull out my phone and open our messages, I’d already heard the gentle chime of the door as Spencer walked in. The look on his face could only be described as a confused and very troubled terror. He didn’t even make it to me because he and Emily locked eyes so intensely that it felt like they were the only two people in the room.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sorry, please excuse me for a second,” she grumbled, speeding off in his direction and promptly pushing him through the door.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There was a small part of me that considered letting him try to get out of it, to let him work up excuses like he always could. But then again… I was a little tired of the hiding. And would it really be that bad if they knew? They seemed like fairly reasonable people.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What are you doing here, Reid?” I heard her say in a hushed tone that could definitely not be described as a whisper.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Spencer answered. Smooth. It didn’t work.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s your best defense? You showed up to investigate despite the fact we already discussed your mandatory sabbatical, and the best thing you come up with is that you didn’t think I’d be here?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Spencer looked at me like this was all my fault, but I just leaned against the counter to my right and watched the show. I’d probably pay for it later, but for now it was entertaining. It wasn’t often I got to see him get knocked down by pretty women.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>With a resigned sigh, Spencer ran a hand through his hair and apparently made up his mind to abandon me with his coworkers. I knew this was his intention because the death glare he gave me told me as much.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You know, you’re right. I shouldn’t be here. It was a mistake. I’m sorry, I’m going to go.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p><em>Not so fast</em>. Before he could make it the few steps back out the door, I called to him from across the room, “Where are you going, babe?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Whether he meant to or not, Spencer’s body froze at the sound of my voice. For as smart as he was, he couldn’t fight his trained reaction to listen when I talked. Even if the pause was only for a split second, it was enough for everyone around him— again, trained profilers— to know that it wasn’t a mistake.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“They wanted to talk to you about Monday night,” I said with a sweet smile as he turned back around.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>JJ, who was on the other side of the room and talking to someone else, immediately snapped her attention over the second she heard the word. “… Babe?” she repeated, her eyes wide and mouth dropped open.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’re… not here for the case?” Emily slowly connected and clarified, her arm shooting out to grab Spencer and stop him from running any further.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He was caught, but he wasn’t going to go down without a fight, it seemed.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I mean, technically I am if you want to ask me questions, so I should probably just wait in the car.” It was a lame excuse, and judging by the blank stares on everyone’s faces, they all knew it. Things stayed like that for a while; awkward and silent.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Eventually, I got bored and let out a loud sigh that drew their attention back to me. “Spencer, stop being weird. Just come inside.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Funny enough, the person to catch up the quickest to the turn of events was the one everyone considered the brawn of the group. Luke, in all of his hunky glory, lived true to his reputation of being an absolute devil. I could see why Spencer liked him.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah,<em> babe</em>. Stop being weird,” Luke parroted with a giggle, walking over and resting a heavy hand on my boyfriend’s shoulder.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Shut up, Luke.” Spencer was less enthused than me. He tried to look angry, but the blush on his face made it hard to take him seriously.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m sorry, just to be clear— You’re dating Spence?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I almost yelped at the voice that seemed to appear next to me out of thin air. I might have been worried about the insistence in her voice and questioning, and her very extreme interest in this recent development, but it was obvious from her tone that she was mostly just there to gather her facts. I didn’t need to worry until <em>after</em> her deliberations.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Looking over to my boyfriend, I felt a knot in my stomach for the first time during the conversation. As much as I had wanted this to happen, and as much as it really sort of wasn’t my fault, I didn’t want to upset him. I was hoping to find some kind of acceptance or enthusiastic permission, but what I found instead was an awkward apathy.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah, he’s my boyfriend.” The words bled into a sigh, my mind a little distracted by the sad state of him now that Emily was whisper-yelling at him again. I turned back to the blonde at my side. “Why?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Uh, no reason. Sorry.” Her eyes fell away, her hands finding anything to do to distract herself from my presence.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I got worried then.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Why are you apologizing?” I hated the way I sounded nervous, my arms crossing over my chest while simultaneously trying to stand up straight. Spencer had told me something about how body language is half the battle. Which, I don’t really know why I took his advice when he had the posture of an earthworm half the time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m just a little surprised,” she replied honestly. I hoped it was honest, anyway, since it hurt my feelings a little bit.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I mean, you guys knew he had a partner, right?” I kind of snapped, a sarcastic smile on my face as I cocked an eyebrow. “Aren’t you profilers? We’ve lived together for like a year.”  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, I kind of had a feeling that he might be dating someone, but I wasn’t expecting to run into you like this, is all.” Everything about her body language screamed anxiety. Tucking her hair behind her ear and avoiding my gaze. At one point she even stopped her sentence to clear her throat. And after she’d finished with her sort of pitiful explanation, her lips kept moving ever so slightly with words left partially unsaid.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I say partially because there was a hidden message, a secret implication in her words that wouldn’t stay hidden for long. Why, you ask? Why, because Luke Alvez was there to point it out as gracelessly as possible.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Also, aren’t you a little young for him?” he blurted out.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Luke!” JJ barked, turning to her coworker with a familiar death glare. I wondered if she'd learned it from Spencer or if he’d learned it from her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What? How old are you? Twenty five?” he pressed. His tone told me that he really didn’t find anything wrong with the question. It was encouraging for a reason that’s best disclosed later.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That’s rude,” I stated matter-of-factly before turning the question back on him, “How old are you?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Thirty-eight.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Shoot. Forgot about the whole honest himbo rule. It really did make sense why Spencer liked him. But Spencer was currently distracted. My occasional glance over would show him frantically explaining something to Emily while simultaneously keeping his eyes on me and Luke.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah, I don’t care. It’s a rhetorical question,” I explained without breaking eye contact with Spencer. But then, as a sly smirk slid across my face, I turned back to Luke and spoke in a tone I knew Spencer hated. “You’re cute, though, you know. You’re very… puppy like.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>My hand made its way up to his face, cupping his cheek and giving it a gentle pat before I took it back. He was beaming, seeming to just enjoy being compared to a dog. It might’ve been strange if he hadn’t explained his thought process so bluntly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“A lot of people say that people look like their dogs after a while, and I do happen to have a very cute dog.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah,” I said as dreamily as I could before I dropped back into a deadpan, “I’m not into dogs, though.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>From a few feet away, I heard Emily’s voice raise again, her tone slowly gaining force as it dropped in register. “Reid, you didn’t tell me you were dating a potential witness.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I didn’t know I was dating a potential witness until two minutes ago!” he squeaked. The sound brought butterflies to my stomach. I shouldn’t have been so excited by him admitting to dating me, but I was. “I swear, I had no idea! I haven’t even been checking the news!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, if you’re going to be here anyway, then tell me what happened on Monday.” Emily ordered, crossing her arms and somehow staring down the man that was taller than her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Do we really have to do this right now?” he pleaded.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yes!” She showed no mercy.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>My leg bounced nervously as I watched the scene unfold. I was starting to worry about those consequences I mentioned earlier, and in a brief display of empathy I looked over at JJ. “Should I help him?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>She considered it, but then shook her head with a pucker of her lips. “He’ll be fine.” But then she didn’t look away, her eyes scanning my profile in such a painfully obvious manner that I was forced to think she wanted me to see her doing it.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’re still wondering, aren’t you?” I groaned, realizing that my attempt to ease my punishment was about to make it lot worse.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I really am.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m twenty three,” I admitted it quickly but with confidence. I even nodded my head once, and if I'd been  any more anxious, I might have held up two and three fingers on each hand respectively. Thank god it didn’t come to that.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Wow. That’s… younger,” she balked, her mouth opening and closing a couple times before asking a semi-normal follow up question with a shaky voice. “How did you two meet?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It occurred to me then that this would be the first time someone in his life heard this story. I thought about all the times he’d told me about JJ, and just how important she was to him. I felt a little guilty for stealing his thunder, but less so when I realized I didn’t have any memories with her yet.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I met him on campus, actually. Two years ago. He gave a guest lecture and I ran into him as he was leaving and spilled coffee all over him.” I laughed as I told the story, chewing on my fingernails to abate the few persistent fears hanging on the tail end of my words.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Did you attend the lecture?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Not really my scene,” I coolly explained, waving off the idea with a loose hand. She didn’t seem to like that answer. I secretly wondered if it was because she thought I wasn’t suited for him, or because she heard a bit of herself in the answer. Maybe a little of both.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>But I wasn’t her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’ve got a look on your face,” I pointed out, apparently picking up some of Luke’s brutal honesty.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m sorry. I really don’t mean any offense, you’re just…” JJ trailed off. I watched the gears turning behind her eyes as she bit her lip. She didn’t want to hurt my feelings, but we all saw the giant elephant in the room.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m not what you expected for the boy wonder?” I acknowledged for her.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“A little bit,” she tried to reassure me, holding her index finger and thumb together. I realized that we both also have a habit to make nerdy hand gestures when we were anxious. We definitely learned it from Spencer.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>That thought made me smile, and then it made me laugh. Because this woman wasn’t a threat, and she wasn’t even someone to be scared of. She was one of the few people on this Earth who would understand part of my plight. She was Spencer’s best friend.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Leaning towards her, I whispered through the side of my mouth, “Don’t worry. I get it. I often wonder what I got myself into when its 2AM and he’s <em>still</em> talking about string theory.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The way her smile lit up her face was so beautiful that I understood why Spencer used to have a crush on her. She laughed so full-heartedly that it almost took over mine. I could hear embarrassing stories untold in the sound. They wouldn’t be untold for long, but that was all that would be shared for that day.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Spencer must have bolted towards us at the sound, because not long after we'd started to laugh, he was at my side. “Hey, are you ready to go?” It was worded like a question but sounded like a plea.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Is Emily done ridiculing you?” I lightly chastised.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Because it was an honest answer, I took pity on him. But man, was it cute to see him cowering. “Fine. I guess I can save you,” I whined, placing my hand on the small of his back and grabbing my bag off the counter as I mumbled, “Big bad FBI agent, my ass. You’re scared of a bunch of pretty ladies with guns.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And from then on, Spencer just sulked. All the way to the car and halfway to our house. I almost wanted to ask him what was obviously wrong, but his pout seemed too cute to waste. It wasn’t often I had the leg up in the relationship.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once he got tired of the quiet, he grumbled under his breath, “Did you really have to flirt with Luke like that?” The near silence of the question told me he’d been debating even asking me, but now that he had, there was no going back.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I know you like him,” I teased, tilting my head to the side to better scrutinize his expressions while he drove. He was too focused to hide them better.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What are you talking about? I don’t like him,” he scoffed, only to quickly follow it up with a terrible cover. “I mean, I like him, he’s a nice person—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I cut him off, tired of hearing poorly worded excuses and blatant lies. “You definitely have a crush on him. You can’t lie to me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I do not!” It was the way he jumped an entire octave that confirmed it for me.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>With a devilish grin, I slid my hand onto his thigh and felt the way he jumped at the touch. Leaning forward, I whispered into his ear, “I bet I could get him to join us.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I had to give it to the guy, though. He suddenly wasn’t very easy to fluster. As the car came to a stop at the light, he turned in his seat to come nose-to-nose with me.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Is it really not enough for you that I’m ten years older than you? You need to add another five years into the mix?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Listen, you don’t have to be jealous!” I dramatically cried, holding my hand to my chest with feigned offense, “I wouldn’t be the star of the show.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Spencer shook his head, chuckling just a bit before he flatly replied, “This conversation is over.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“For now,” I gleefully added on before settling back in my seat.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Is this what you’re going to do? Just flirt with all my coworkers? You can play innocent with JJ, but I saw the way you looked at her. She’s married, might I remind you.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yep. I’m gonna get all of your coworkers,” I said, making a point to swerve in my seat as I tacked on, “Where’s Rossi?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>I’m convinced that if he had any less self-restraint, he would’ve crashed the car at that joke. My favorite kind of laughter bubbled in his chest, and he painfully whined, “Stop!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Apparently, there was no reason to worry about a punishment. Because Spencer looked pretty goddamn pleased with the outcome, however horribly awkward it had been at the time.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You know, now that they know, they’re going to wonder why you never bring me to stuff.” I didn’t mean to dampen the mood, but we’d have to talk about it eventually. I wanted to be able to quickly pivot back to jokes about sleeping with his coworkers if necessary.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Yeah, I know,” was all that he replied.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“How do you feel about that?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m...” he paused. His eyes bounced around the road in front of him, then down at my hand that still rested on his thigh before he gave a soft smile. “I’m okay.  It feels like it was probably time.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Cool. Me too,” I said with a giddy little bounce.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>This time, it was Spencer’s turn to spoil the fun.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“<em>No</em> Luke,” he stated firmly.  </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Fine,” I said, leaving off the ‘<em>for now</em>’ for the time being.</p>
</div>
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